Outlook PST File Corruption and repairing it with useful Utilities

Personal Storage Table (PST) also known as Personal Folders file is storage of all Outlook data including emails, contacts, calendar, notes etc. The file is housed at user’s computer hence making it easy for user to access its data when required. Undoubtedly, it helps users in many ways; however, the situation is nasty when the file gets corrupt due to various reasons. One of the major PST corruption reasons are its size limit, if the file reaches or exceeds the prescribed size limit, it becomes prone to corruption. Other causes include viruses & other malware, corrupt file header, abrupt system shutdown, software malfunction etc.

A highly recommended measurement to be taken is backing up the PST file. However, after taking the backup, you cannot assume that the file is safe without a second thought. Yes, backing up the PST data is great for future reference. But what it will have to do if the file is currently corrupt. A nice point to think over! Well, there are solutions that allow you to breathe a quiet sigh of relief in case of PST corruption.

Inbox Repair tool provides help in some certain cases bytwo repairing the header of PST file. It also deletes the non-understandable content of the file. The PST header corruption may occur during upgrading the version, and to fix this corruption, Inbox Repair tool performs well. However, if the data within the PST is corrupt, scanpst.exe is not a good choice as it will damage the remaining content of the file. Therefore, if you choose to run the tool, it’s good to backup the PST before bringing the tool into operation.

Oversized PST and OST Crop Tool (Pst2gb.exe):

As briefly described above that a major reason of PST corruption is its size limit. PST actually offers 2 GB size in MS Outlook 2003 and earlier versions; however it has been increased to 20 GB in 2007. Yet, if the data is placed more than PST’s capacity, corruption occurs. In this case, you should go for Oversized PST and OST Crop Tool, and then Inbox Repair tool. The crop tool deletes approx. 25 MB of data from the PST file; therefore, using this tool has to be the last choice. The tool is available for download from Microsoft Download Center.

Other Solution:

The above discussion makes you aware that both the utilities have some drawbacks. More of it, they cannot be really useful in severe PST corruptions. The condition allows you to proceed further and pick a commercial Outlook PST Repair application. Such software are widely available over the web and provide you the desired results through their smart features.

Disclaimer: Blog contents express the viewpoints of their independent authors and
are not reviewed for correctness or accuracy by
Toolbox for IT. Any opinions, comments, solutions or other commentary
expressed by blog authors are not endorsed or recommended by
Toolbox for IT
or any vendor. If you feel a blog entry is inappropriate,
click here to notify
Toolbox for IT.

This blog will cover the different issues which Outlook users have to face like PST file corruption, send/receive errors, PST file ...
more

This blog will cover the different issues which Outlook users have to face like PST file corruption, send/receive errors, PST file size problems, and various error codes and other problems. Here I will discuss all the possible solutions and tools which can be used to troubleshoot the problems in Microsoft Outlook.
less

Receive the latest blog posts:

Share Your Perspective

Share your professional knowledge and experience with peers. Start a blog on Toolbox for IT today!